I keep reading about people proposing sensible and obvious things to combat the biggest problems we face today, like controlling (and maybe even reducing) population, reducing carbon emissions, and voting for the best leader. All sounds like the ‘intelligent’ things to do, don’t they?
But all that is just asking too much when you consider what you are up against.
[Image courtesy RapingMotherNature.com.]
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Firstly, reducing population is the obvious solution to chronic poverty. Simply put, there are just too many of us vying for the same finite resources and not enough brains going around to come up with ideas that will help us produce enough to meet that demand. What do we need to surmount in order for us Filipinos to better manage our population? Simple. We need to reduce the birth rate by preventing unwanted pregnancies. Some people call it giving sexually-active couples a “choice” whether to conceive or not when having sex. But that’s just putting politically-correct terms around the earlier terminology I used. So I don’t blame the Roman Catholic Church’s stand, because it sees through all the euphemisms used by activists. The whole point of the RH Bill comes down to just one simple concept: birth control. And so it just becomes too hard to implement a sensible population control policy in the Philippines — because the Catholic Church is against it.
Second, reducing carbon emissions seems like the obvious solution to climate change. I said “seems” because despite how obvious some people make it out to be, I believe climate is just too complex to attribute to any one or a handful of factors. That is why even with the help of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, the debate around mankind’s effect on climate cannot be settled conclusively. Still, I think an effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels is worthwhile. Lots of wars are fought over oil and many terrorist organizations are funded by oil wealth. Go figure. Americans complain about being obese, but their obesity seems to be made possible by cheap energy — which is why they’d still rather drive than walk or use bicycles. And then there’s the waste. All that smog, plastic, and excess stuff people throw away are generated by industries (and people) forever thirsty for oil and its by-products. So we Filipinos can complain about flooding and air pollution all we want. Given how much catching up the country’s infrastructure has to do just to meet the avalanche of waste Filipinos produce everyday will put any real relief from floods decades away. And so it just becomes too hard to reduce our dependence on oil — because our political and economic leaders are against it.
Lastly, voting wisely is the obvious solution to the rule of stupid leaders. Why do we need to settle for the idiots who are running the country today? Well, because we Filipinos cannot seem to use our brains when we cast our ballots every election time. Worse, I see people who preach about “voting wisely” then suddenly align themselves with and campaign for a specific politician. Guys, that’s not in the spirit of an objective call to “vote wisely”. You either preach the wise vote from a neutral position OR you affiliate yourself with a political party or candidate. You can’t do both. That’s like a newspaper owned by a politician’s crony claiming to be “objective” when reporting the news. It just doesn’t work. And so it is just too hard for Filipinos to choose the right leader — because you need brains to do that.
From what I see, even within my own small space in the organization I work for, the reality is that politics will always be the final determinant in any initiative to change. And even in a country whose politics people believe are grounded on the so-called will of the people, I don’t see any real promising challenge to the so-called straight path our supposedly “chosen” leaders have permanently sent us down.
Frustrated artist doing geek for a living.
Because we are not there yet as a people, our needs are still dictated by basic instincts of survival, pleasure and pain. Our priority is self preservation ,family, ethnic bonds in that order. The concept of common good is still abstract, the concept of nationhood is relativistic, and national identity is wishful thinking.We stopped building the foundation halfway, hence our resulting structure of nationhood is flimsy.
Kate ,
As well as Isidro . Whether its the Pogo comic with the link below or the song by Supertramp Crime of the Century or the Filipino movie Oro Plata Mata one thing we have to accept which you both point out is that we should stop looking for threats “out there” nor should we be looking for acceptance “out there” . Everything is up to us. We have met the enemy and he is us,
http://lockerz.com/s/238738235
As far as I know, people began voting unwisely at the same time the quality of education deteriorated and add to that, the media for feeding trash to the people.
If I may share the other angle of the issue on voting.
I think Filipinos, since the establishment of government, were good in electing their officials. The problem is, those they elect continue to fail them. Continue to treat them bad. Continue to con them. The abuse has taken so long that it has become a cycle already that contributed on the deterioration of the process.
It is not the voters’ ‘lack of brain’ alone that results in the failure to elect the right leaders. The leaders themselves should be faulted also. Voting unwisely is not solely the reason for failing to elect the right officials. Those being voted for public office are guilty of being ‘wa-is’. Of being cunning and deceptive.
It’s a two-way thing. Not one party has the monopoly of fault.
Why don’t we just exterminate the vermin in office? Or go to war with China, that will certainly decrease our opoulation should China opt to nuke us.
Our problems are too many; too chronic. They can only be solved by SuperHuman efforts…We elect leaders, who do nothing, know nothing….most of them are thieves…
I cannot agree more.
Another misleading title
Ruth, cool how you can accuse the author and the webmaster of the site of being deceptive to the reader yet do not provide one shred of support to your accusation.
She’s mislead, heheh.
First off, overpopulation is a myth, the Phils. is no exception. The country is just a heap of poorly managed… everything. From land, to resources, to brain drain, to the dumbed down population. Poverty is just a symptom, overpopulation is too. Fixing the symptom is not a solution.
Second, reducing carbon emissions in hopes of “fighting” climate change is another hoax. Climate change – formerly global warming – has been debunk too many times. We humans just must learn to stop over-estimating ourselves on what we can do to affect the planet as a whole. This so called carbon tax is a masterly done propaganda to impede developing nations from cheap power, i.e. coal. Non-sense? Take note of my previous statement on dumbing down.
Just a warning guys, careful what you read and regard as reality.
nice one kate.
“And so it just becomes too hard to implement a sensible population control policy in the Philippines — because the Catholic Church is against it.” – Kate
Last time I checked the PI was not under Sharia law. People act like it though. Seems like we’re re-living scenes in Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Voting wisely doesn’t help as there are few candidates to choose from.
Ultimately, the economy will develop, just as those of countries did.
Human ignorance is the main problem of humanity that brings poverty to all nations like Philippines. Today Filipinos are living in the deep cage of ignorance, tamed by the government, entertained by television and comforted by the church…